So I just got a sitar

[RandomBass90]

I dunno if this is in the right forum, i apologize if not. Title says it, me and a friend of mine just traded instruments, my relatively broken guitar for his relatively broken sitar. The top gourd is detatched and most of the strings are either broken or incredibly loose. I'll post some pics here in a bit for reference. Ive never messed with one of these before but ive always wanted to learn, and i cant think of better place to look for music related guidance than talkbass. Im hoping someone inhere has some experience with these instruments and could steer me in the right directon. My questions for you, oh illustrious talkbass, are:

How would you recomend I reattach the gourd, with wood glue I imagine? Perhaps there's a better way?
How ought I go about restringing this beast? Its quite intimidating
Any good starting advice, websites to check out, books to read, people to contact? This thing is utterly foreign to me, I'm not sure where to start.

[GK Growl]

Maybe these guys can help:

http://forums.chandrakantha.com/view...64c88cbc853074

[RandomBass90]

That website seems like a great place to start, thank you from what little I've looked through it, it seems to have a whole lot of thorough information, especially for newbies.

While I'm at it, here's some shots of the sitar and the damage to it.





As you can see, the screws gouged into the neck and widened the already existing holes that the screws were in, so reattachment is kinda a mystery to me

[Monkey]

Welcome to the sitar! I have owned two (I sold one) and they are fun to play. The one I have now is the same brand as yours, but has more ornate tuning knobs and no upper gourd.

Here is a link to some information that might help:
http://www.buckinghammusic.com/sitar/sittut/btut.html

Restringing and tuning is indeed a pain, but is worth the effort. You don't need the upper gourd, but you could glue it on. I'm not sure how you could attach it other than that. I don't think it is a good idea to add much weight to the top (by putting blocks to screw the gourd into, or something like that) since if you hold it the traditional way, you will be supporting the weight of the neck with your right forearm.

The sitar is a fascinating instrument. I haven't played mine much in the past year, but it is fun when I get the time to tune it up. Good luck!

[Mushroo]

More than almost any other instrument in the world, I'd say the sitar wants you to take some lessons with a good teacher. Indian music is a tradtion that is passed down orally/aurally from student to teacher in a 1-on-1 relationship.

Good luck, it is a lovely sound!

[mellowgerman]

I've owned 2 sitars. Currently in the market for a new one. I personally would just patch up those holes and leave the top gourd off. Makes it much more portable and easier to learn on. It will sound good without the top gourd too BTW, it's sort of an optional thing.
In regard to stringing/tuning, there are actually some pretty helpful videos on youtube.

[Bard2dbone]

Is it wrong that I think back to my old guitar player's electric sitar (just a regular-ish electric guitar with a buzz plate in place of the bridge, so it sounds like a sitar, but is played like a guitar) and wonder why to bother learning the real one? It can't be as simple as his was.

And his sounded very cool. It wasn't a perfect sitar sound. But it was way closer than one would expect.